Santorum to complete his 99-county tour of Iowa today

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum will visit Adams County in southwest Iowa early this morning and Lyon County in northwest Iowa this evening — completing his quest to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties this year.

“We’re going out there and we’re laying the groundwork,” Santorum said Monday after a campaign event in Newton. “…One of the things I learned four years ago is that Iowans like to see you and touch you…and when they get a chance to meet you, we get people signed up and they speak for us at the Caucuses.”

Santorum completed a 99 county tour of the state in November of 2011. Santorum, who won the 2012 Iowa Caucuses, said while critics may dismiss the 99-county odessey as “crazy”, he knew he had to do it again.

“You take three years off from politics, which I did, you know, you’ve got to reintroduce yourself again and I knew if I got into this race I’d be starting from the back of the pack again because…I haven’t been in the senate, I haven’t been traveling the country doing politics and endorsing candidates and spreading money everywhere,” Santorum said. “…I knew it would be a hard road again, but I trusted the people of Iowa four years ago. I’ll trust them again this time.”

Santorum isn’t the only GOP candidate who’s promised to visit each one of Iowa’s 99 counties this year. Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal are on the statewide circuit, too. Santorum said after meeting face-to-face with small groups of Iowans, he’s been able to get committed supporters who won’t defect from his campaign.

“You develop some real connection with people that are not going to be changed by the next ad that comes on,” Santorum said, “or the next person who happens to be the next ‘star of the moment’ comes to the top of the pack.”

Santorum spoke with reporters Monday afternoon in Newton, after he held an hour-long discussion about the economy with a couple of businessmen, an educator and the local hospital’s CEO.

“Unlike a lot of campaigns that are going out there trying to figure out how you can separate yourself out and create your own little wedge issues, I’ve really worked on trying a campaign that says: ‘Are there some issues…that actually will unite us…so when we get to Washington, D.C. we can actually get something done?” Santorum asked as he opened the discussion.

Santorum suggests getting rid of all tax loopholes and simply charging a flat 20 percent income tax rate on corporations and individuals — which Republicans support — and also raising the minimum wage — which Democrats support. It’s a deal that would get bipartisan support in congress, according to Santorum.